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Fatigue – that horrible overwhelming inability to do another thing, sometimes even to think straight, is one of the most disabling invisible problems of MS. When I took a poll of the top symptoms that people wanted to troubleshoot in a holistic way, Fatigue was top. So here goes:Why do people with MS experience fatigue?

Fatigue in MS is of 2 types. Motor fatigue, or ‘short-circuiting’ fatigue, is when the difficulty of transmitting the electrical nerve signal down demyelinated, or damaged nerves, overwhelm the body’s ability to produce ATP ( the energy molecule). Fatigued muscles just have to stop; you feel as if you’ve run a marathon, it’s like hitting ‘the wall’ for an athlete, and you have to sit down. After a short while, energy is replenished, and you can go again.

The second type of fatigue is more of a widespread, overwhelming all-over fatigue, described here by MS campaigner, Shoshana Pezaro in 2015:

“It’s an absolutely crushing physical and mental symptom that cannot be overcome through will-power. When fatigue hits, I feel like my plug has been pulled out. Physically my body suffers extreme weakness and heaviness and every tiny movement, even raising my hand, is like fighting through thick treacle. But the mental effects are worse. The world separates from my consciousness. My brain is shrouded in a deep fog. It is a dreamlike state where I can hear people and see people, but I somehow I cannot connect. Fatigue cannot be fought, only managed through rest and care.”

Lots of research and debate has been carried out about what causes this type of fatigue; an interesting study reported at this year’s ECTRIMS conference investigated whether fatigue was more strongly linked to lesions in the brain, or to inflammation. They found a strong correlation to inflammation as the driver of this type of fatigue.

So to address Fatigue, we need to address the MS itself, and take both a short and a long view. The good thing is, there is a lot you can do to address both MS itself, and the problem of fatigue.

Consider natural sleep aids like ‘Nightall’ etc which are made from hops and valerian – check that its ok to take these with any medication you are on

Use the HeartMath technique, for 10 minutes every morning, plus whenever you experience negative or worrying thoughts, or mind is free, and when you’re going to sleep at night.

Lock into a positive emotion

Focus on heart area

Breathe in for 5 seconds and out for 5 seconds in one long continuous cycle

imagine blowing up a balloon in your belly as you breathe in – your abdomen should rise first, then abdomen squeezes in as you expel the last bits of air out.

HeartMath is wonderful – I can’t find a good website to make it simple; you can buy all kinds of gadgets to allow yourself to see how you’re doing and coach yourself further, but the basic technique is this simple, and it has powerful and far-reaching effects on your resilience to stress, amongst other things.

Additional extras to consider.

Energy is created in our bodies by mitochondria, the ‘powerhouse’ of the cell. Each cell contains up to a thousand mitochondria. Mitochondria take fuel from the food we eat, and transform it into energy. They generate a chemical called ATP, which transports the energy for use by the body.

In order to function properly, mitochondria need the fuel of excellent nutrition and oxygen.

Dietary factors

Everything that we put in our mouths can either be pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory; what we eat has an impact on inflammation.

A study published in July 2016 showed improvements in fatigue over the course of one year, in people with MS who adopted a low fat, plant-based diet

Also have a look at the work of Terry Wahls, a medical doctor who reversed her own secondary progressive MS with advanced nutrition, online. I prefer the overcomingms diet as above, but Terry’s extras like green smoothies and intense nutrition make sense to add in.

Be aware of food intolerances. More people with MS have full blown celiac disease than in the general population, but you can also have a milder food intolerance that is not picked up by clinical allergy testing. Experiment to find out if some foods worsen your fatigue, by excluding them for 3 weeks and then bringing them in and noticing. Common irritating foods are bread, cheese, dairy products, gluten grains, sugar, and sometimes beans, but many people have individual things that they don’t tolerate.

Vitamin D3 at least 5000 IU daily & consider minimal erythmal dose sunbed. Some people may need more to get into the optimal range of 150-200nmol per litre; you can get your blood checked at http://www.vitamindbloodtest.org.uk

A study published this year found a significant reduction in fatigue in people with MS who took 500mg of Co-enzyme Q10 daily.

Omega 3 fatty acids are found in oily fish, nuts, seeds and whole grains, and help to calm down and prevent inflammation, aswell as helping to store and retain energy. 20g daily can be supplied by 2 dessert spoons of cold pressed flax seed oil used cold, and make sure it’s fresh; one example; www.flaxfarm.co.uk

B vitamins – some people are deficient in these, which can mimic symptoms of MS; some people report these help with fatigue; probably when there has been some deficiency present.

Probiotics & fermented foods– very important to restore health of gut, especially after antibiotics, which contributes to health/ energy

Exercise & Oxygenation

Many people report that hyperbaric oxygen improves MS fatigue; if this isn’t possible, at least do deep breathing!

Just had great comment in response to this post by Frank:

“The very best thing for me has been taking Oxygen Therapy at the MS Centre. There are 56 centres to choose from so there’s almost bound to be one near you – unless you live in Northumberland or Cumbria. With Oxygen Therapy and MS, lots of us find there there is an optimum pressure. The ascending protocol suggests that people should start at 1.5 ATA, move to 1.75 ATA and then try 2 ATA. After each session note down how you feel immediately afterwards and then again about 24 hours later. Once you’ve tried all three pressures you should know the one that suits you best.As you say, Miranda, it does not work for everyone, but then neither do any of the drug or dietary therapies – we are all different – however, I’ve found it great for reducing my fatigue and if I miss my weekly session, I certainly feel the impact. Some of my colleagues find they are really tired after the Oxygen Therapy but then feel full of energy the next day, others, like myself, feel the benefit within a few hours. Whatever your views, it’s definitely worth giving it a go.”

Regular cardiovascular exercise can help to raise oxygen and energy levels, in your own zone of tolerance. Exercise has been shown to be strongly anti-inflammatory – make it part of your daily routine in one form or another.

Some people with fatigue have reported improvement to fatigue by raising the head of their bed by 6 inches. Called ITB or inclined bed therapy – See New Pathways issue 62

APS Therapy

At the MS Therapy Centre where I work we have now had many cases of people’s MS fatigue, including post relapse, responding very well to APS Therapy. This makes sense as the treatment stimulates production of ATP, and is a replica of the wave-form of action potentials ( the electrical nerve signal.) It hasn’t worked for everyone that’s tried it; it seems to be more effecitve for fatigue in relapsing remitting, rather than progressive MS, and we are still collecting data about this, but the therapy is available privately ( see ‘my other work’ button) and at 7 MS Therapy Centres:

Lots of therapies, including Shiatsu, Reflexology, Yoga and ‘EFT’ tapping are found by people to improve wellbeing, energy and sleep which may then help with fatigue.

Remember that Disease Modifying Therapies (DMTs) all aim to reduce inflammation and relapses, and by doing so, can have a marked impact on reducing fatigue and improving how you feel. If you are eligible, but not on a DMT, review and reconsider the situation. If you’re on a DMT but still having relapses, request a review, as per the the MS Brain Health Campaign. And when choosing a DMT, ask about the common side-effects, explore how other people have responded, and choose one that fits best with your needs and aims.

In summary, with both long and short term strategies, there are lots of things you can do to beat fatigue and enhance your energy. Some of the long term strategies take longer to bear fruit – but keep going; many people with MS can remember a time when they were so much more fatigued than they are now.

Like this:

Hello! the madness of the summer is over (which I thoroughly enjoyed!) and at last I manage to blog about this amazing experience.

So in July, I attended the first UK retreat run by the Overcoming MS UK (OMS) organisation, (now a registered UK charity), who allowed me to go so that I can hopefully help them to run workshops etc in the UK, to help people with MS understand the effects of diet and lifestyle modification on MS.

From left to right, this is Linda Bloom, patron & founder of OMS UK, who has MS herself and is very well, Sandra Neate, Prof Jelinek’s wife, an emergency medicine consultant in Australia, Professor Jelinek, professor of emergency medicine and author & founder of Overcoming MS ( & very fit & well with MS), Gary McMahon , head of OMS UK, all round top bloke, with a business management background, but utterly committed to health, having helped his wife recover form serious illness using dietary & lifestyle measures, Dr Craig Hassed, an Australian GP and medical university lecturer, author & international speaker on mindfulness, and me.

What did I expect?

Well, I expected that I’d already know it all ( how arrogant!) …. I expected that I’d enjoy meeting the Professor and crew, but might shy away from too much socialising, not wanting to feel different as an MS nurse…. I expected I’d be bored in the evenings and took lots of work to do…. and that I might get a bit hungry on the fully vegan diet provided, and took a big loaf of bread for my bedroom… and I expected that 90% of the focus would be on diet & supplements, with a sliver of meditation thrown in for good measure….

What actually happened?

a) I didn’t know it all… & I’ll share my new understandings here, b) I enjoyed meeting every person on the retreat, was inspired by the company of so many intelligent, stimulating individuals and couples who dare to think differently and think for themselves, had a lot of fun, was never once bored, never did any work (!), and am actively staying in touch with the group via an email group because I want to! c) Was absolutely stuffed, because the food was tasty, vibrant, delicious and really ‘stuck to your ribs’. d) I got my focus back through meditation, and realised how powerful the effects of even a boring daily grind of meditation that you don’t even want to do can be !!

for this, it helped having a little cell, with no TV or internet connection….

So, first impressions happened the evening before the retreat, when I went out for a meal with the OMS staff/trainers. Firstly, the Professor is seriously fit and healthy looking, and runs or swims daily more than I do in a week ( if not 2), and comes across as genuinely lovely, thoughtful, intelligent, educated, and kind person. He is obviously ably supported by his wife Sandra, who shares his qualities, diet & lifestyle, and took on the sessions about the structure & role of different fats.

During the meal, in conversation, the Professor talked about how he would like to slow down his international work running the retreats ( he does already have his full time academic medical work), and I felt honoured to hear him relate this personal anecdote, with some emotion:

He said that he had recently experienced a relaxation of the drive to always be working to get his message out there, and that it had caused him to wonder and reflect. For some reason his age suddenly became very meaningful to him, but he couldn’t work out why — until he suddenly realised that he had now passed the age that his mother had been when she died, severely affected by MS (she took her own life). And so somehow, he had ‘made it’ , and proved to himself the value of the work he’s been doing all these years.

I’m not going to re-iterate all the points of the OMS approach here, as I’ve talked about it many times, and its all available for free on http://www.overcomingMS.org , there’s the books, and also a forum on the website where people can discuss points; I’m just going to go into some of the things I hadn’t quite nailed.

We sat in a circle around the outside of a large room, or on beanbags in the middle, and there were about 40 people. Most people had come with their partner, and some on their own. Teaching was very good quality, and we had lots of time to ask questions and discuss fine points.

Here’s the Prof teaching, and Linda in mid leap… she & Gary had organised and were running the show, she had her new baby in attendance, and during the week was constantly jumping up and physically running, fetching, carrying, leaping over boxes & beanbags, & looking radiant throughout.

Flax seed oil – in the most recent research carried out by OMS ,taking this trumped fish oil for having reduced disease activity. The best amount and way to take it is 2 dessert spoons drizzled over food ( or used to dip bread or in salad dressing) daily, and apparently, the best tasting is from http://www.flaxfarm.co.uk I just got some, and can confirm, it looks like sunshine and tastes… nutty but fine. Going to see if I can get a discount for Bedford MS Therapy Centre….

Meditation

I’m no stranger to meditiation, having taken it up in my 20s, however, life had started getting on top of me, and when I attended the retreat, I was pretty stressed.

I was taken aback by the serious focus on meditation – every day, we started and finished the session with a half hour mindfulness meditation, led by Craig Hassed. I also did some of my meditation again in my room on a morning. It was hard! It is hard! But it is real – it has real, measurable mental and physical health benefits, and it’s worth doing every single day. By the end of the week I felt that I had met my real self again, and I was OK. Meditation deserves a post of its own, which I’ll do some time, but for now, here’s some links to give a taste of the sort of thing we were doing. Scroll down to guided meditations, mindfulness meditation (1,2 or 3) with Craig Hassed.

I’m really, really looking forward to getting away from it all ( apart from my MS learning) next week on the retreat for people with MS run by George Jelinek of Overcoming MS. Vegan food, peaceful and beautiful surroundings – just hope they have wiFi!!

The reason that I’m there, is to learn, as OMS have asked me to help them run the one day courses which will be running in the UK, to educate people about the evidence for lifestyle measures that can help people with MS to remain well. I’m looking forward to it! As this is not an either/or choice – there’s a place for both types of medicine – I have never been afraid to stand up and promote this from the rooftops! Going to take my yoga mat and meditation shawls….

And here’s just some of the research that OMS have been up to recently

Our research team at OMS is excited about the findings of our latest study from the HOLISM database, published online early at the International Journal of Neuroscience (http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/00207454.2013.803104). To refresh memories, this study recruited around two and a half thousand people with MS from Web 2.0 platforms like Facebook, Twitter and MS websites, from 57 countries around the globe. They completed a long survey about their lifestyles and the illness. We have been busy analysing the data ever since; the findings about one part of the lifestyle survey relating to fish and omega 3 consumption have just been published and add enormous weight to the OMS recovery program. Briefly, those consuming fish the most frequently (three or more times a week), and those taking omega 3 supplements, had better health in virtually all measured domains of disease activity, disability, and quality of life. Perhaps the most striking finding however of the research was that while people with MS taking regular fish oil supplements had 44% fewer relapses than those not taking omega 3s, those taking flaxseed oil regularly had 66% fewer relapses! This effect was independent of how frequently they were consuming fish. We have suggested flaxseed oil as the preferred omega 3 supplement in the OMS recovery program since its inception. These data provide strong support for that approach.
The take-home messages from the paper were that, in a real world setting, people with MS taking omega 3 supplements and eating fish regularly have much better health! They have less disability, fewer relapses and better quality of life. People looking to recover from MS everywhere who are incorporating these lifestyle changes into their lives can take great heart from these findings.
The full version of the paper is still not available for download from the journal website, so we have attached a pdf (above right) to enable people to read the full paper.